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Quick Take: A new report from Pike Research confirms that substation automation can expect sure, steady growth between now and 2020. Building new transmission substations will peak in 2014, then gradually decline. But retrofits to existing transmission substations and to smaller distribution substations will more than take up the slack.

 

We wonder if some utilities are missing this trend. Sensing hardware is seeing a rapid price drop that makes it economically feasible to instrument substations that were previously too small to justify the expense. If you are not taking a hard look at your substation roadmap, now's the time to rethink your long-term strategy. - By Jesse Berst

 

Substation automation equipment has been a "significant and mature market" for at least the last 10 years, says a new report from Pike Research. But the clean tech firm says the integration of substation automation functions into smart grid operations is bringing about changes in the sector: more focus on recently automated smaller distribution substations and on retrofit upgrades of previously automated transmission substations.

 

The result, Pike forecasts, is that the global substation automation market will grow from $2.7 billion this year to $4.3 billion by 2020. The substation automation equipment generally includes communications, protective relays, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and related sensors.

 

"Even as individual equipment costs and per-substation spending are declining due to technology advances and a shift to retrofits, we expect that the overall market will continue to grow,” says chief research director Bob Gohn. “The smart grid trends driving automation deeper into the distribution network, combined with continued growth in Asia, will sustain steady growth in the overall substation automation sector."

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Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, the industry's oldest and largest smart grid site. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the U.S. and abroad, he also serves on advisory committees for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Institute for Electric Efficiency. He often provides strategic consulting to large corporations and venture-backed startups. He is a member of the advisory boards of GridGlo and Calico Energy Services.

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